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Plummer, TW, Ferraro, JV, Louys, J, Hertel, F, Alemseged, Z, Bobe, R and Bishop, LC (2015) Bovid ecomorphology and hominin paleoenvironments of the Shungura Formation, lower Omo River Valley, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution, 88. pp. 108-126. ISSN 1095-8606
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Plummer et al 2015 JHE accepted.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview |
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Abstract
The Shungura Formation in the lower Omo River Valley, southern Ethiopia, has yielded an important paleontological and archeological record from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of eastern Africa. Fossils are common throughout the sequence and provide evidence of paleoenvironments and environmental change through time. This study developed discriminant function ecomorphology models that linked astragalus morphology to broadly defined habitat categories (open, light cover, heavy cover, forest, and wetlands) using modern bovids of known ecology. These models used seven variables suitable for use on fragmentary fossils and had overall classification success rates of >82%. Four hundred and one fossils were analyzed from Shungura Formation members B through G (3.4-1.9 million years ago). Analysis by member documented the full range of ecomorph categories, demonstrating that a wide range of habitats existed along the axis of the paleo-Omo River. Heavy cover ecomorphs, reflecting habitats such as woodland and heavy bushland, were the most common in the fossil sample. The trend of increasing open cover habitats from Members C through F suggested by other paleoenvironmental proxies was documented by the increase in open habitat ecomorphs during this interval. However, finer grained analysis demonstrated considerable variability in ecomorph frequencies over time, suggesting that substantial short-term variability is masked when grouping samples by member. The hominin genera Australopithecus, Homo, and Paranthropus are associated with a range of ecomorphs, indicating that all three genera were living in temporally variable and heterogeneous landscapes. Australopithecus finds were predominantly associated with lower frequencies of open habitat ecomorphs, and high frequencies of heavy cover ecomorphs, perhaps indicating a more woodland focus for this genus.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0603 Evolutionary Biology, 1601 Anthropology, 2101 Archaeology |
| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology |
| Divisions: | Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19) |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Oct 2015 09:21 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 13:55 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.06.006 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2141 |
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